Wireless scanners are handheld devices used in many applications including bar code decoding and industrial data collection. A wireless scanner usually comprises a mobile computer, keypad, and data acquisition device. The mobile computer typically includes a hand held or “pocket” computing device and a keypad in a variety of configurations. The data acquisition device is typically an image capture device, such as a line scanner or an image sensor array, and is often used to capture image data, such as bar codes. Data may also be acquired by the keypad or a touch pad associated with the mobile computer. The wireless scanner is typically paired to a wireless scanner base for purposes of data communication with a remote computer.
Within a wireless scanner, the mobile computer is equipped with a radio transceiver which may have operating modes wherein the mobile computer can transmit and receive data from a computer or other device in a wireless scanner network. In some cases, it is desired that the mobile computer communicate with only one out of several possible radio transceiver equipped computers in an operating environment. One such operating environment is a retail store network wherein a mobile computer in the form of a hand held bar code reading terminal must be associated with one specific cash register including an associated radio transceiver. In a retail store network, it is required that one bar code reading terminal be paired with a single cash register system so that product code information intended for processing by a first cash register is not erroneously associated with a retail transaction processed by a second cash register. This point-to-point relationship is referred to as “pairing” the wireless scanner with the cash register.